David, > Dennis has pointed out that mixing the call-with-named-parameter > interface with call-by-order-of-parameters one would cause confusion, > and I think it would be OK to disallow this type mixing, so
As we've discussed on IRC, this should be the difference between a FUNCTION and a PROCEDURE. It's about time we implemented a CREATE PROCEDURE statement anyway. As I see it, the critical difference between FUNCTIONS and PROCEDURES can be that: a) Procedures support named parameter calling but do NOT allow being called in the context of a query, and b) Procedures are not automatically transactional; that is, transactions within procedures must/can be explicit. Among other things, this would allow procedures to run maintainence tasks. This seems to me to be the obvious solution to the Named Parameters vs. Overloading conflict, and I'm really puzzled why people keep dismissing it as out-of-hand. -- Josh Berkus Aglio Database Solutions San Francisco ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 6: Have you searched our list archives? http://archives.postgresql.org